An Open Seat on Board of Educaton

It looks like there will be an open seat on the Howard County Board of Education to fill in 2008 . The filing deadline is Dec 3. Unless seven people sign up to run, there won't be a need for a Feb. 12 primary. There will be three BOE seats that will be decided in the Nov. 4 general election. Among the current members whose terms expire in 2008, Janet Siddiqui has already filed to run and Ellen Flynn Giles is also expected to file for candidacy by the deadline. The current chairman, Diane Mikulis, is not seeking re-election.

Mikulis decides against running for re-election to county school board

Mary Kay Sigaty's BOE seat

Some locals are already expressing concerns that our Howard County Board of Education may return "to the scandalfest of a few years ago" when things were seemingly out of control. Let's hope not! So who will the appointee be? Janet Siddiqui? Another BOE candidate? What characteristics is the new Board lacking? With four new members, including the appointee, there are 3 choices for new BOE Chairman, Diane Mikulis, Pat Gordon, and Sandy French.

School board seat to be filled
Kaufman says he won't apply after losing election

New county executive unveils transition team
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It's Not Over Yet-The Sixth Board of Ed Seat

Just in case you thought the race for School Board was over on Election Day, guess again. It looks like Ellen Flynn Giles is the 5th place finisher in the BOE race. Soon the race to fill the seat that Mary Kay Sigaty will vacate to become District 4's County Council member will begin. Our next County Executive, Ken Ulman, gets to choose the person to fill this seat for the remaining two years of Sigaty's term.

In The Sun today, Larry Carson reports "According to a county elections board tally of 10,099 ballots completed Friday afternoon," and "In the nonpartisan school board election, Janet Siddiqui, who finished sixth, gained 78 votes on fifth-place finisher Ellen Flynn Giles, although Giles is still more than 1,200 votes ahead. The five top finishers for school board win seats, though the person in fifth place must run again in two years for a full, four-year term."

Sigaty's election to County Council leads to buzz on school board post

Update: Monday evening-Just back from the Board of Elections to get the absentee votes.

Aquino 44656 13.54%
French 43921 13.32%
Gordon 38570 11.70%
Cohen  37792 11.46%
Giles  35513 10.77%

Giles still leads Siddiqui by 1183 votes with only provisionals and ABS2 votes left to count.


There are some interesting seminars/workshops in education taking place in Howard County this week. Take a look at the calender to the right.
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School Board Results & Comments

The five front runners from the election comment on their goals and priorities for the new Board of Education.

Aquino leads School Board pack

Fresh faces on school board
Unofficial winners in Tuesday's race a mix of newcomers, system veterans
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Major Changes to Howard County

Unless you've been living in a cave, you probably know that the elections tomorrow will have a major impact on Howard County's future. A new County Executive, at least four new County Council members and five Board of Education members (possibly all new) will be elected. If you would like to see changes in how the BOE handles redistricting or school equity, you need to vote for candidates that support your concerns. Remember to take the time to vote at your polling place from 7 am to 8 pm on Tuesday, November 7.

Election to bring major changes
New executive, new council members and expanded school board coming in the county
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BOE Candidate Priorities & Too Much Work for Teachers

Some more comments from BOE candidates and what they consider important
School board candidates focus on federal law, testing

Most people think that teachers work from 8 am- 3 pm and that is it. Summers off at the beach. Leave the work at school when the school day is done. NOT!

Teacher seeks union help in cutting educator working hours

The increase in testing requirements is creating more work for all teachers. Is there such a thing as too much testing?
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A Little of This and That

If you missed the Leaque of Women Voters of Howard County BOE forum, you can check it out on youtube. There were some strange sound issues the night of the forum, so please just bear with the videos. Thanks to Cynthia Vaillancourt and her son for taking the long hours to make this available.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mynewsnetwork

Looking for some "old school" family fun? How about checking out a fall play at one of the local high schools.

School Plays Schedule
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Parents Listen to BOE Candidates

Parent Groups Hear from BOE Candidates-The View

See what parents have to say. The answers to "the question was asked of the candidates to identify the most important action the BOE should take." __________________________________

LWVHC Board of Education Candidate Forum Tonight

The League of Women Voters of Howard County will be holding a forum tonight for school board candidates, also co-sponsored by the Association of Community Services, Commission for Women, PTA Council, SECAC from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Room B-37 of the Applications and Research Laboratory (old Vo-Tech Building), 10920 Route 108, Ellicott City.

This is a live broadcast with rebroadcast dates and times on Cable Channel 72:

Oct. 25 (Wednesday) at 7 p.m. LIVE
Oct. 28 (Saturday) at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Oct. 29 (Sunday) at 3 p.m.
Nov. 1 (Wednesday) at 10 a.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m.
Nov 4 (Saturday) at 7 a.m., 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Nov. 5 (Sunday) at 3 p.m.
Nov. 6 (Monday) 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Update

Don't know if this works but Cynthia vaillancourt and her son are
trying to get this forum up on youtube so people can watch at any time.
This is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mynewsnetwork
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Who will you choose for BOE?

The Howard County Board of Education (BOE) is expanding to seven members in December. The additional seats were not phased in, so this year five of the seven BOE members will be decided by the November election. BOE members now serve 4 year terms (used to be 6 year terms). A sixth BOE seat (2 year term) may also be available depending on the outcome of the County Council District 4 race where current BOE member, Mary Kay Sigaty, is projected to be the likely winner. I realize that many of you are starting to get your absentee ballots and might need a little help with figuring out who you should vote for. There are two incumbent BOE members running for re-election. This means that there will be at least 3 new BOE members elected in November. Here are the websites of the candidates:

Frank Aquino
Larry Cohen
Allen Dyer
Sandra French
Ellen Giles
Pat Gordon (Incumbent)
Roger Lerner
Joshua Kaufman (Current BOE Chairman)
Don Marston Jr. (Write-in Candidate)
Janet Siddiqui
Di Zou

Running as a candidate and hopefully a future BOE member, it wouldn't be right for me to come out and endorse candidates in the election. But I will discuss some of the thought process that I will be going through to decide on my choices.

More on this soon...
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WRITE-IN DON MARSTON JR.

First, I want to give a big THANK YOU again to everyone that voted for me in the Primary! Running for office can be fun at times, but it is a tremendous amount of non-stop work campaigning. I still believe that many people are looking for real change on the Board of Education (BOE). Education spending accounts for over 60% of our county's budget. It is interesting that about only third of our county's residents have children in the Howard County Public School System. I feel that at least one BOE member should be a representative for that other two thirds or the "average" Howard County citizen. When I was asked "who would I vote for BOE?", this got me to start thinking who would really represent my interests. The answer was that I couldn't come up with a candidate that shared all of my concerns and interests. (More on this in a future post).

It is time for new ideas about redistricting and school equity. Redistricting 1400 kids next year is a lot of redistricting. Does it make any sense to you that students that live across the street from Glenwood Middle or the new North Eastern Elementary Schools should go to another school? The facilities inventory must be completed so that we can develop a master plan for future renovation/repairs of our schools.

The expansion of our Board of Education provides the opportunity to add members to the Board who have backgrounds and experiences that will both complement each other and help us to deal with future issues. My goal is to see that all Howard County Public Schools have the same or similar facilities for our students, regardless of the location of the school. Every child in our county deserves a well-maintained school.

I have been a resident of Sykesville in western Howard County since 1971. I am a 1984 graduate of Glenelg High School and have been involved with many local and ag groups in the community. I feel that I can represent the interests of the citizens of Howard County and can bring a much needed business perspective to the BOE.

Depending on the outcome of the District 4 County Council race, it looks very likely that the next County Executive will be appointing a sixth BOE member to fill Mary Kay Sigaty's BOE term. I have filed as a write-in candidate with the Board of Elections and a strong presence in the November elections would be a positive sign for the next County Executive. I would appreciate your support on your November ballot, please consider

Don Marston Jr.

www.votemarston.com

Auth: Don Marston Jr., Candidate Jean J Marston, Treasurer
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The School System of the Future

Chris Merdon, candidate for Howard County Executive and Joshua Kaufman, Chairman Howard County Board of Education, also running for re-election, announced today in a joint press conference at Merdon campaign headquarters, their support for "The School System of the Future".

Merdon and Kaufman Announce Plans For
The School System of the Future

Candidates want more tech in schools -The Examiner & Executive hopefuls propose changes Free laptops in 9th grade, work flexibility addressed - The Baltimore Sun

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Chinese language classes

School Board candidates discussed adding Chinese language classes to the classes available to students at a recent forum. This sounds like a good idea since Asian students are one of the fastest growing populations in our schools.

Howard school board candidates support Chinese-language classes - The Examiner
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Board of Education Primary Results

The final unofficial results are in from all 106 precints.

Howard County Board of Education -Primary Election 

Aquino        12.98 18303
French        12.90 18193
Gordon        11.12 15688
Cohen         10.25 14457
Kaufman        9.45 13327
Siddiqui       8.78 12382
Giles          8.55 12051
Dyer           5.88  8296
Lerner         5.06  7135
Zou            3.60  5083
Sola           3.19  4482
Marston        2.77  3905
Bedolla        2.77  3902
Aliprando      2.71  3820 

Votes for BOE      141024
Votes Cast          41274
Registered Voters  164246 

What are your thoughts? Surprises?
Do you think these results will be the same in November?